


For a Brother

by TsarinaTorment



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo: Scott Edition [6]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Angst, Arm in a Sling, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt Scott, Hurt Virgil, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Scott Whump, Taking The Bullet, Virgil Whump, bound and gagged, implied human trafficking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25906981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarinaTorment/pseuds/TsarinaTorment
Summary: When it came to protecting family, there were no limits.
Relationships: Virgil Tracy & Scott Tracy
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo: Scott Edition [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841482
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	For a Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CreativeGirl29](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeGirl29/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.
> 
> For "Bad Things Happen Bingo: Scott Edition", the prompt 'arm in a sling' featuring Virgil (requested by fictivekaleidoscope). This fic is a companion piece to [Divided, United](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25832233), but hopefully written so that knowledge of that fic isn't required.

Virgil whistled a merry little tune – something of his own composition, and maybe he'd tease it out on a piano later – as he jogged down the sidewalk, dodging various other pedestrians with coffee in his hands and a bag of apple Danish buns to go with them, because they'd been right there and he knew Scott wouldn't complain. Far from it, with the day he'd been having. His biggest brother always despised these meetings, hated anything to do with slimy investors, but it was those slimy investors that kept Tracy Industries going, and without that, they wouldn't earn enough to throw into IR. A necessary evil, but that didn't mean Virgil couldn't make it a little bit better with his brother's favourite pastries.

The coffee shop wasn't far from the office. Virgil stood out quite a bit in the district, wearing flannel and jeans while everyone else wore suits, but under the shadow of Tracy Industries, Scott was unmistakable and everyone would be intercepting him, whether it be to try and arrange a meeting or for an autograph session. Virgil, for all his casual appearance, flew under the radar far more easily.

He got the feeling something was wrong when he rounded the corner away from the main thoroughfare onto the street that would take him to their little private space and realised the security that should have been there – that he'd had a ten second exchange with when leaving not ten minutes earlier – was gone. Instantly alert, he picked up the pace and called Kayo.

"TI security's disappeared from around the back," he told her, forgoing greetings.

"Get inside the building. I'm on my way," she responded instantly, but he shook his head.

"Scott's in the courtyard."

"Virgil-" The courtyard came into view and anything she was saying was immediately drowned out by the sight of five masked individuals all attacking his brother. Virgil didn't hesitate, coffee and pastries discarded and forgotten instantly as he dived to his brother's aid, pushing, kicking and jabbing at the assailants.

They had guns, and like Scott behind him, Virgil focused on dealing with those. Kayo, Gordon and even Scott himself had trained them all in disarming people of volatile weapons, but there were five of them and Virgil-

Virgil messed up.

One of them had two guns; they drew the second with shaking hands the moment Virgil knocked the first one away, and he was too slow to recover, too slow to knock the second gun away before there was the _click_ of the trigger pulling back and the _bang_ of the gunpowder igniting.

The gun wasn't even facing Virgil, but Virgil had long since made it a habit to clock where Scott was, his big brother's presence unmistakable even when he couldn't see him, and the gun wasn't facing Virgil but it was facing Scott and Scott's back was turned. His body was moving even before he finished processing the information, instincts slamming him into Scott, knocking him to the ground but out of the path of the bullet.

It tore through his shoulder, white hot and agonising, and Virgil was no stranger to pain but this _hurt_ and his body refused to respond, collapsing down onto the ground beside Scott. Blood was everywhere, an overpowering stench in his nose and metallic taste in the air. He couldn't move, couldn't even shift his hand to try and stem the flow as his vision darkened and blurred. It hurt, it _burned_ and _Scott_ he had to help Scott but he _couldn't move_.

He barely heard the scuffle next to him, but he heard the words that chilled him to the bone.

"Target acquired."

_Scott!_ With a scream of pain, he clawed himself up on his elbows, head heavy and the world spinning, just enough to see the limp form of his brother roughly thrown over one of their attackers' shoulders. _No!_

"What about the other one?"

A boot slammed into his shoulder, and white-hot pain lanced through him, his vision going a blinding white as he screamed again and crumpled back to the ground.

"We don't need him."

Footsteps walked away, and his vision blinked into focus just long enough to see the back of Scott's head, limp and lolling with the walking motion of the one carrying him, before the world swirled and went black.

His eyes snapped open and he launched himself upright, crying, "Scott!"

There was no answer. He blinked a couple of times, slowly gathering his senses, and realised that he was in a whitewashed room – _hospital_ – with his arm strapped up in a sling and flannel jacket nowhere in sight. _Scott_ nowhere in sight.

Kayo was there, half concealed in the shadows but jaw set and eyes flashing dangerously. His sister looked nothing short of furious, bloodstains on her uniform adding to the image, and Virgil didn't need to be told.

Scott was missing.

"Why are you here?" It wasn't supposed to come out like an accusation, but it did anyway. Why was she _here_ , watching _him_ sleep when Scott had been taken right out from under their noses? Why wasn't she hunting him down, that broiling fury behind her eyes channelled into making whoever attacked them, whoever took Scott, pay?

She pushed away from the wall and approached him, her movements soft despite the steel threaded through her and the inferno in her eyes. "Doing my job."

"So where's Scott?" He winced even as he said it, aware that his sister would be taking the slip in security very, _very_ personally.

"John's tracking him," she said, perching on the edge of the bed and raking him over with eyes briefly shuttered with an overlay of concern, pushing back the fury for a moment. "We have a location and the GDF are mobilising."

Already? Virgil wasn't complaining but it felt too easy. Unless… "How long was I out?"

"You called me just under two hours ago," Kayo told him. "Either they're sloppy or it's a trap, but the locator signal from Scott's comm is still broadcasting." That screamed _trap_ to Virgil, and he agreed that he'd rather the GDF walk into that than Kayo. They'd already lost Scott; Virgil refused to lose any more family.

Still, he couldn't sit here and do _nothing_. His left arm was in a sling, strapped up to immobilise his shoulder, and he was definitely on painkillers because the fiery _burn_ of being shot was more or less gone. He'd pulled off rescues in worse condition.

Kayo's hand on his good shoulder was the only thing that stopped him storming out of the room immediately. She might not be able to physically restrain him, but she had other ways of getting her way and Virgil knew it would waste both their time if he pushed her.

"The location," he demanded, and Kayo's eyes flashed with supressed irritation.

"John won't tell me." Virgil gaped. John hadn't-? Kayo was their _head of security_. If anyone had a right to that information then it was Kayo. What was his brother _doing_?

It was a question he didn't need to ask. John was being Scott, was pulling on the mantle of overprotective big brother in Scott's absence. If Kayo didn't know then she couldn't jump into danger and would have to stay with Virgil, fulfilling her role as _his_ security. If Kayo knew, her responsibilities would be torn – or Virgil would go with her, invited or not.

Well, if John was going to shut off that avenue, Virgil would find another. "What do they want? How much?" The problem with being rich was that people wanted their money and would resort to underhanded tactics to get it. All of them had been thoroughly drilled in ransoms and how to handle them since the Tracy name became a household one. There would be clues there. Virgil and Kayo could-

"We haven't received a ransom."

His brain screeched to a halt. "What?"

Kayo huffed, and the fire in her eyes leapt higher, burned hotter. "We haven't received any communications at all. No demands for money, technology or anything else." His sister was furious but there was an undercurrent of fear fuelling the ire. Virgil understood. If it wasn't money, it was something _else_ , and Scott knew a lot of things. More than Virgil did, and he'd heard them say _we don't need him_.

If it was _money_ , they'd have been better suited targeting someone else – _him_ – to force Scott, the one with the most money, to pay up. If it was something less materialistic…

Virgil remembered Bereznik, the all-consuming dread that they'd lost yet another member of their family and the state Scott had been in when he'd finally, _finally_ come home.

No. Not again.

"How long until the GDF move in?" he asked.

"Two hours." Pretty quick, for the GDF to get involved in a kidnapping case. Virgil assumed Colonel Casey was directly involved and cracking the whip. Their godmother was viciously protective of all of them, but thanks to her position could rarely act on those feelings. A Tracy issue rather than International Rescue, however, and she could definitely crank up the pressure.

Still, another two hours of sitting around and waiting to know if Scott was with his comm, not knowing what condition he was in, what his captors were _doing_ … Virgil didn't like that. Not one bit. From her tone and the stormy eyes, nor did Kayo. Virgil cursed John's overprotectiveness, but was well aware that he'd have done exactly the same if it was Gordon or Alan.

But he trusted John. John wouldn't do anything to increase the risk of something happening to Scott, even if that meant begrudgingly drawing his younger brothers into the firing line.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked Kayo, who immediately focused on his shoulder and the sling immobilising it. She was conflicted, torn between his safety and her screaming instincts to find Scott. He could see it in the way she fiddled with her comm, not quite calling John to demand more information but clearly tempted, while eyeing his obvious injury.

John suddenly appeared, even though Virgil hadn't seen her put through a call. From the blink of surprise, she hadn't. That meant…

"Virgil! Good to see you awake." His brother managed a smile, relief settling over his features in a way that was totally at odds with the situation. "How's the shoulder?"

"Fine," Virgil grunted. "Scott?"

"Good news and bad news," John told them both. "We're dealing with idiots."

"How so?" Virgil asked, but Kayo got in before him.

"You've verified Scott's at the location?"

"Better." There was a twisted look on his face that might have been a smile if he didn't also look so _worried_. "Scott's comm is still working. I'm on the line with him right now."

That… that was too good to be true. Far too good to be true.

"How is he?" Virgil didn't remember if he'd taken any injuries in the fight, didn't know how they'd taken him down in the end. "Can you put us through?" He needed to see him, needed to hear his voice and know he was alright.

John shook his head. "Too risky. It's dangerous enough having the line open at all without adding to it." That made sense, but that didn't mean Virgil had to like it.

"His condition?" he pressed, and John gave a shrug that could have meant anything.

"He says they haven't touched him." Well, that was something at least. "But he is restrained, and if I know Scott he's been trying to get out of them. I've told him there's an extraction in process and that he might need to run, so hopefully he'll avoid doing anything that would negatively impact that, but-"

He broke off suddenly, eyes wide, before the call cut.

"John?" Kayo pounced on her comm, calling Thunderbird Five back immediately as Virgil swung his legs over the side of the bed. Having one arm out of commission was not going to keep him out of this. "John!"

"John is currently occupied." EOS' childish tones came through the device, her distinctive ring of lights appearing. "There has been an unexpected development."

That didn't sound good at all. Had Scott's captors realised he had a link to Thunderbird Five? Were they being hacked- no, EOS would be driving off the invasion. Had something happened to Scott?

"What development?" Kayo demanded, her voice sharp. Virgil heard the same concerns running through her voice, well disguised but there. "EOS-"

"This appeared on a part of the internet used for underground and illegal movements," EOS interrupted, her ring of lights disappearing. In their place was a stream of what looked like a website page. It was an old design, but that barely registered after Virgil realised what he was seeing. The other side of the hologram, Kayo's inhaled sharply.

A picture of Scott dominated the page, a photograph depicting him from the shoulders up. Even if John hadn't said as much, the awkward tension in his shoulders – still suited – told Virgil his hands were bound, but that barely registered. A metal contraption, something like a ring with metal branches, was shoved in his brother's mouth, secured with a sturdy strap so that even through the photograph Virgil could tell his brother couldn't dislodge it at all, but even that wasn't what really caught Virgil's attention. Scott was glaring at the camera, blue eyes bright and vibrant even as he faced his photographer – and the online audience – with a fierce look that declared he wouldn't be cowed.

Virgil wished he couldn't see through the façade. The glare was strong, his eyes somehow standing out from what was otherwise a reasonably murky picture, but Scott's eyes were filled with fear. His brother was afraid, and the realisation doused Virgil unpleasantly. He'd seen Scott afraid, but only ever for others – for his brothers, for the people they were trying to save. Never for _himself_.

He lost himself in those pools of defiance and fear for several moments, broken out of it only by Kayo's unintelligible noise of sheer _incense_. If he'd thought she was furious earlier, it didn't have a patch on now, and as he managed to take in the rest of the page, his own temper bubbled up.

Immediately below the picture was an ever-changing, ever- _increasing_ number. Currently six digits, although as Virgil watched it ticked over to seven, he didn't need the words _Current Bid_ to tell him what it meant.

He was on his feet and striding for the door in a single moment, shot shoulder be damned. Scott needed him _now_ , and nothing – not a bullet wound, not his family, not the whole damn _universe_ – was getting in his way. "Location, EOS." He yanked the door open and stormed out of the room, Kayo hot on his heels. She wasn't even trying to stop him, and the unfortunate hospital orderly that tried to intercept them and send him back to bed was brushed aside in a way Virgil would never normally do.

The AI was quiet for a moment, presumably conversing with John, but as they stormed through corridors – uniformed nurses and visitors in civilian clothes alike parting for them like the red sea – her voice piped up again. "His communicator signal is emitting from a warehouse in the downtown district." A holographic map appeared above Kayo's wrist and Virgil glanced at it. A familiar blue symbol in what looked like a storeroom caught his attention and his heart clenched. _Scott_.

"We can be there in fifteen minutes," Kayo said firmly. Virgil was pleased that he was being included, but then again, Kayo was no fool. She knew _nothing_ would stop him.

"There are another twelve life signs in the immediate vicinity," EOS continued, and the red heart symbols appeared accordingly. Two of them were close to Scott, although moving away. Otherwise, his brother seemed to be alone.

They left the hospital, leaving a wake of confused and mildly terrified staff behind them, and Kayo directed him towards a sleek, black car. SCT1 marked it as Scott's, but Kayo slid straight into the driver's seat with an ease that belied who _really_ drove it regularly. Virgil all but threw himself into the shotgun seat, ignoring the stench of blood coming from the backseats.

"Plan?" he asked Kayo as she yanked the poor car into drive and hurtled it down the main streets. More than a few speed limits were ignored, but they'd cough up the fine money later as Kayo tore around corners and breezed past the packed mass transit and occasional other car that dared to be in front of them.

"According to latest inventory, SCT1 has enough explosives stored in the trunk to penetrate the wall of the warehouse," EOS intervened before Kayo could answer. "John has asked me to tell you to plant the explosives at this location" – an orange dot appeared on the building schematics. It was close to Scott – guaranteed to blow out at least part of the room. "A hand held laser will be required to free Scott."

"What happened to waiting for the GDF?" Virgil asked, not that he was complaining. Some illegal property destruction was worth it to save Scott, just like the speeding fines Kayo was collecting as she hurtled them down a side street at over double the speed limit.

"Colonel Casey has authorised International Rescue's presence. John informed her of the change of circumstances."

Sometimes it was terrifying how many strings John could pull so quickly. Not this time. This time, it made perfect sense because Scott needed them and they were answering. Family first. Family _always_ came first. It was well known that Scott would move mountains for any of them. The reverse was equally true.

"What's John doing now?" Virgil wondered. He no longer had any issues with EOS, but it was very unusual to be debriefed by her rather than his brother, especially when things were so personal. All he could think of was that he was tracking down the bastards bidding over Scott, but that was something EOS could have done.

"John is currently educating Scott on quasars."

Virgil hadn't thought anything would feel worse than seeing that photo of his brother, but EOS proved him wrong with a single sentence. John was the best of all of them at prioritising during an emergency. He dealt with so much data, so many _people_ simultaneously, that identifying the highest priority task was as subconscious as breathing by now. Virgil admired that about him, and had a healthy appreciation for the fact that his most anti-social brother was the best at managing multiple conversations simultaneously.

If John had decided that educating Scott on quasars was the most important thing for him to be doing right then, to the point of leaving all other communications and even the rescue itself in someone else's hands – or processors – then that meant only one thing. Scott needed distracting.

Scott wasn't afraid, he was terrified.

From the white-knuckle grip Kayo had on the steering wheel and the flinty steel in her eyes, Virgil wasn't the only one to reach that conclusion. They accelerated again.

They didn't slow down until they were on the final approach, and Virgil knew that was only so their screaming engine didn't give them away.

"Colonel Casey will arrive in five minutes," EOS informed them as they rolled to a silent stop and gathered the explosive charges. Why Scott's car had explosives in it, Virgil didn't know, but that didn't matter because they needed them.

Kayo handled most of the work, Virgil's sling hindering him, but that didn't stop him from retrieving two hand lasers to store in the fabric – it made a convenient carry case, for all that slings weren't supposed to be used that way and he'd chew out anyone else that tried it – or scooping up as many explosives as he could carry, as well as their detonator. EOS directed them via hologram to the place they needed to blow up, and Virgil glowered at the bricks as he took control of laying the explosives. One arm out of commission or not, _he_ was the explosives expert and the last thing he wanted to do was risk hurting Scott.

Scott, who was tied up, shackled in place and terrified enough to need all of John's considerable attention to keep him calm.

He set the timer and ushered Kayo back, away from the blast radius. Her comm crackled to life again, but it wasn't EOS this time.

"Thirty seconds," John said, unnecessarily. Virgil had set those timers, knew exactly how long it would take for them to ignite. But it was John, and John never did anything _unnecessary_. John was also supposed to be distracting Scott. "Scott, curl up as much as you can and protect your head."

He'd linked them together, but no matter how much Virgil strained his ears he couldn't hear any reply from his eldest brother. The photo flashed up in his mind again, the ugly, intimidating metal contraption in Scott's mouth. A gag.

"Ten seconds." Virgil's heartbeat counted down out of sync, but John's voice was calm, steady, every inch the rescuer, the Voice Who Answers. "Five… four… three… two… one…"

The explosion was painfully loud in the quiet warehouse district, and Virgil grabbed one of the hand lasers. That would have drawn attention; speed was the priority. Medical attention or anything that didn't directly affect Scott's ability to escape would have to wait until they were back to the car.

Kayo charged through the still-dissipating smoke and Virgil lurched forwards, right on her heels. Navigating the rubble that was all that remained of the wall with only one hand to keep his balance was difficult, but that observation paled in the face of his eldest brother, face streaked with dust, curled up uncomfortably in the corner of what was once a room.

"Target located," Kayo said, presumably informing John and the GDF. Virgil didn't care, pushing past her and heading straight for his brother. Scott's eyes were wide, but the fear that had been so prevalent in the photograph was gone, replaced with a deep-set relief – and concern. Virgil didn't miss the way blue eyes homed in on his wrapped-up shoulder, arm decidedly useless in its sling and numbed with painkillers.

They didn't have time to debate whether or not he was fit to be there. Already, voices were approaching, raised in panic and fury. Virgil knelt by his brother, assessing his condition as the hand laser made short work of the chain linking Scott's ankle to the wall. The gag was still firmly in place, and electrical cords wrapped around bloodied wrists, but while Virgil's heart insisted he get rid of those then and there, neither would negatively impact their escape enough to risk hanging around long enough to remove them.

Scott's ankle was of a larger concern. While Virgil doubted Scott had intentionally damaged it, especially after making contact with John, it bore all the signs of a struggle to escape. It was sprained at least, and Virgil grimaced as he pulled his brother to his feet. "No time for the rest," he apologised, hoping he wasn't doing any damage to Scott's shoulder by pulling him up by the bicep. "We've got to move."

Ordinarily, if faced with a rescuee with Scott's injuries, Virgil would pick them up and carry them to safety. Instincts screamed at him to do the same again here – Scott's ankle would not benefit from the run – but unlike his siblings, Virgil knew his limits. Scott was tall and weighed more than he could lift with only a single working arm. Attempting to pick him up would only end up with both of them sprawled on the ground, at the mercy of the rapidly approaching enemies, so he made sure his grip on Scott wouldn't falter and then ran, all but dragging his brother out of the small, dark room back into the outside world.

Kayo stayed behind them, a barrier between the pair of injured brothers and the people that wanted to hurt them further, and Virgil winced as Scott rasped and choked his way through the pace he set – not quite a flat out run, but hardly slow. It shouldn't have been a challenge for Scott at all, his brother going on challenging runs around the island for _fun_ , but the ankle – definitely sprained at the minimum – hobbled him and the gag was doing _something_ to mess with his breathing.

Still, it wasn't far to the car, and as soon as they were there, they should be home free. The GDF were on their way to deal with the organisation and handle general clean-up. Virgil picked up the pace, Scott stumbling but just about staying on his feet, but then there was a gun and a short person – masked, like the ones that had attacked them what felt like weeks ago despite not being even three hours prior – between them and SCT1.

The gun was pointed at Scott's chest, his brother still heaving and choking for air. He was trembling; Virgil could feel it under his palm, where he still had hold of him, although he didn't take his eyes off of the person with the gun.

"I won't let you go!" they shrieked, the gun wavering noticeably in their grip. Scott flinched. "You're _mine! Mine!_ " They sounded uncomfortably like a deranged fan or stalker, and Virgil tugged at Scott, determined to put himself between the two of them.

Scott didn't step back, was taking a step _forwards_ by the time Virgil's muscles got the message from his brain, and then there was a gunshot.

For the second time that day, Virgil _moved_ , shoving his brother with far more force than necessary – and likely injuring him even more – away from the flailing gun and the person brandishing it.

It seemed decidedly unfair that the second bullet hurt _more_ than the first, a feat Virgil hadn't really thought possible until the agony erupted in his hip and he crumpled. His vision whited out entirely, and a second spike of pain forced a restrained groan from his lips. Somewhere above him, there was a strangled scream, a roar of frustration forced out, and he instantly recognised it as Scott's voice. Scott, who had a gag and could barely breathe properly. Scott, who he was supposed to be saving.

"Virgil! Stay awake!" An insistent tapping bothered his cheek, unyielding and certainly unsympathetic. It had to be Kayo, but he couldn't tell. Not really.

"I'm awake," he protested, although the noise that actually left his lips barely resembled the words. "Scott?"

There were some sounds, pained and muffled beyond all comprehension, before Kayo's voice cut in, smooth and crisp as always. "You're worse. Scott will be okay." She kept on talking but Virgil stopped listening. _Scott will be okay_.

It was a promise. Kayo wouldn't let anything else happen to Scott; Scott would be safe, Scott would heal. _Scott will be okay_. The world darkened to the sound of his sister's voice.

When he woke up, Scott was there. Hair almost wild, skin red and raw at the corners of his mouth, and eyes full of worry, but there. Laid down in a hospital bed – for the second time that day, if it was indeed still the same day – he couldn't properly see his brother to assess his condition, taking note of his left arm in a sling, but Scott was _there_ and just as Kayo had promised, he seemed okay. Worried, but when _wasn't_ he when a younger brother was in hospital?

"Virgil!" Worry turned to relief as Scott realised he'd regained consciousness, and his brother leaned forwards. "How are you feeling?"

Not bad, but that was probably painkillers. There was a hazy feeling in the back of his mind, and Virgil distinctly remembered being in agony before passing out.

"Been better," he allowed. "You?"

"I'm not the one that got shot. Twice." Classic Scott evasion, deflecting the attention back away from himself and onto a younger brother.

Speaking of younger brothers, Gordon and Alan were hovering protectively either side of the chair Scott was sat in. Behind them was a bed, sheets crumpled but currently vacated, and Virgil surveyed his older brother again. Gordon helped.

"You're still going to be grounded," his younger brother pointed out, hand clamping down on Scott's apparently uninjured shoulder and ignoring the glare sent his way by their eldest brother. "A fractured ankle takes weeks to heal, and don't forget the dislocated shoulder. Never mind the-"

" _Thank_ you, Gordon," Scott cut in. "It's nothing serious. I'm fine."

Virgil didn't agree with Scott's assessment at all, but let it slide for the moment if only because his brother would just deflect the attention back at him all the time. He did, however, try to sit up so he could take a better look.

He didn't get far, Scott's hand shooting out to rest on his shoulder – the one without a bullet wound – to stop him.

"You'll re-open the wound if you move too much," his brother cautioned, but Virgil wasn't really listening as his own hand clamped around Scott's arm, preventing him from retracting it. "Virgil?"

Virgil observed the bandages around Scott's wrist closely, ignoring his brother's feeble attempts to retrieve his arm. Scott wouldn't tug too hard, not while Virgil was injured. The presence of the bandages was disturbing; Virgil recalled seeing blood on Scott's hands and wrists while they were still bound with the electric cables, but the idea that they'd done enough damage to warrant bandages was concerning.

"Virgil, I'm fine," Scott protested, clearly realising what Virgil was doing. Virgil responded by letting go, only to probe gently at the arm in a sling instead. Scott drew back, out of his reach, but not before Virgil confirmed that there were bandages on that wrist, too.

"You're not," he retorted, but didn't elaborate. He didn't know what they'd told Gordon and Alan, and the youngest two certainly wouldn't be finding out about the bidding and Scott's well-hidden but there terror from him. Hell, he didn't even know that _Scott_ knew there had been a bidding war to buy him, or that a photograph of him bound and gagged had been up on the internet for all to see.

He assumed John or EOS had long since removed it by now.

"Scott, get back to bed." Virgil jumped, having not noticed Kayo standing by the door. "Someone's coming." Scott wasn't supposed to be out of bed? What a surprise. Virgil scowled disapprovingly at his protesting brother, but with one arm in a sling and an ankle out of use, Scott was no match for Gordon and Alan manhandling him back to the abandoned bed.

Kayo slipped away from the door just as it opened, revealing Colonel Casey. The woman looked as stern as usual, but Virgil noticed her gaze soften as it landed first on Scott, and then on himself.

"Good to see you awake, Virgil," she said warmly. He gave her a grin he hoped wasn't too weak. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he assured her. "What brings you here?"

Her eyes glanced over at Scott, who was looking mulish at being forced back into bed. "The GDF have finished assessing the warehouse district in question, so I thought I'd come see you boys before returning to base." She took a few steps further into the room, eyeing Scott with something like resigned disapproval, and Virgil realised she wasn't fooled at all by the dash to get him back into bed. "You're looking better now, Scott."

"Colonel Casey arrived just after you passed out," Kayo informed Virgil in an undertone. He nodded his thanks as Scott acknowledged the woman's words.

"I feel a lot better."

Virgil's internal _Scott's Lying_ Detector instantly went off and he surveyed his brother more closely, trying to figure out what was bothering him without an outright confrontation. Of course, the fractured ankle would have him frustrated, because that meant he was grounded, alongside the dislocated shoulder, and Scott despised being grounded – a family trait they all shared, to be fair to him. The bandaged wrists and the rawness by his mouth should be minor inconveniences at best now that he was no longer restrained.

He was missing something, and if it wasn't physical, that suggested it was mental. Then again, with Scott wasn't that always the case? His eldest brother had the infuriating tendency to supress anything that was bothering him until it exploded out later, usually at an inopportune moment. With his kidnapping, as brief as it had been, there was no doubt at least one thing being bottled up right now.

Virgil didn't get a chance to talk to Scott about it until the evening, long after Colonel Casey left, when the hospital staff gently but firmly insisted that visitor hours were over and ushered their younger siblings out the room, to loud promises from both brothers to see them bright and early the next morning. He hoped they'd at least be quiet and stick with early bird Scott until a reasonable hour.

"How are you really, Scott?" he asked once they'd all vanished. Even John had flickered away, although that was more likely to give them some privacy than because he was sleeping, himself. More likely, he was tracking down everyone that had joined the bidding war for his brother.

"I should be asking you that," Scott deflected. "You're the one that got shot." He was still in his bed, too many people moving in and out of the room after Colonel Casey's arrival for him to sneak back out again. Virgil was glad; Scott needed the rest, even if he refused to acknowledge it.

"Getting shot is not the same as being kidnapped," he pointed out. He'd let Scott deflect away earlier, keeping Gordon and Alan hopefully ignorant about what exactly had happened, but now they were alone, he had no intentions of letting Scott bottle this up, too. "I'll heal before you do."

"You shouldn't be hurt in the first place," Scott snapped, head jerking around to face him and giving Virgil a clear view of sharp, frustrated blue eyes.

_Oh hell_.

Virgil knew that look. He'd seen it before, after the Zero-X, when they'd gone to the aurora generator, whenever the topic of the Zero-X was breached.

Scott was blaming himself. Somehow, he'd twisted the events around in his head until they were all his fault.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," he said quietly, firmly. Scott went rigid.

"Virg-"

"To protect you? To protect my family? Always," he continued, overriding whatever protests his brother was about to use.

"But-"

"If our positions were reversed, you'd have done the exact same thing."

That silenced Scott for a few, blessed seconds. But Scott was Scott, and he could never let a little brother have the last word.

"You shouldn't have done it."

His brother was in his stubborn, refuse-to-listen-to-reason mode. Why did that _not_ surprise him?

"Why? So you could get shot instead? Not happening, Scott. You got _kidnapped_. Would they even have bothered to patch you up if you'd been shot?" Virgil hadn't even considered what would have happened if the bullet had hit Scott until that moment. Was it specifically Scott they were after, or would they have taken him instead of Scott was injured?

"I'm supposed to be protecting _you_ , not the other way around!" Scott exploded, and there it was. Scott's overprotective nature coming out and tying him up in knots as it always did.

" _No_ ," he disagreed, pulling himself up into a sitting position and ignoring the twinge near his hip.

"Virg-"

"That's not how this works," he steamrollered. "Just because you're the eldest doesn't mean our wellbeing is your responsibility."

"Virgil-"

"We're a family and that means we look out for _each other_. It's not a one-way street. We can protect you just as much as you protect us." Except he hadn't protected Scott, had he? Fighting, getting _shot_ , it hadn't changed anything. They'd still taken Scott.

" _Virgil!_ " Scott screamed, his voice sounding just this side of hoarse. "Lie back down _right now_ or I'll make you." His eyes were sharp with a mixture of determination and frantic concern; Virgil didn't doubt for one second that his brother would find a way to hobble over to him and force him back into bed, even with a fractured ankle and one arm in a sling.

He compromised and leaned back against the head of the bed, reclining as gracefully as he could. Scott glowered at him, which Virgil ignored.

"Did you listen to a word I said?" he asked instead. Scott's eyes narrowed, a challenge rolled in with the same worry and smattering of guilt. "Scott-"

"Virgil, stop blaming yourself." It was Virgil's turn to find himself silenced. Scott sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, destroying whatever might have once been left of his style. Dark brown strands flopped down across his face. "There was nothing more you could have done."

"But-" Control of the conversation had been _lost_ and against Scott that was not a good thing.

"No buts, Virgil. You got _shot_ trying to stop them. I-" he paused, an uncharacteristic stutter that kept Virgil silenced far more effectively than anything else Scott could have said or done. "I thought they'd killed you."

"It was only my shoulder," Virgil pointed out. "Why would that be fatal?"

"I didn't _know_ it was only your shoulder," Scott ground out, head in hand. "They wouldn't tell me where you were, just that they'd only needed one – _me_ – so that meant you were expendable to them." He took a deep breath, one that Virgil could hear shuddering from where he was. "When John told me you were going to be fine, I was so _relieved_."

Virgil cursed the distance between them, wishing he could put his hand on Scott's shoulder and reassure him that everything was okay – that _they_ were okay.

"And then you went and got shot _again_ ," Scott continued. "And I couldn't do anything. I couldn't take them down, I couldn't even _talk_ , and the whole thing could have been avoided if I hadn't _stepped forwards_."

"They were going to pull the trigger whatever we did," Virgil corrected. "Nothing you could have done would have changed that."

"You got _shot,_ " Scott hissed violently. " _Again_. For _me_."

"I did," Virgil agreed. "Like I said, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You're my _brother_ , Scott. What was I supposed to do? Let them shoot you?"

" _Yes!_ " Scott's voice cracked.

Virgil froze. "You don't mean that." Except he _did_ , because he was Scott, and Scott was determined to protect them, whatever it took. Whatever it cost him.

"I can't lose you, Virgil," Scott confessed, voice quiet and not quite stable. "Any of you."

That was it. Injuries be damned, Virgil heaved himself upright, swinging his legs around and stumbling out of bed. His right leg buckled, hip most displeased at the action, and he caught himself on the chair Scott had been sat in earlier.

"Virgil, _no_!"

It was only a few feet between their beds. Dragging the chair along with him as a crutch, he limped his way over to his brother, who was fighting his own blankets – clearly Kayo or Gordon had decided to tie him to his bed with them – and all but collapsed on his bed.

"We can't lose _you_ , Scott."

"Virgil-" He moved to put a hand over Scott's mouth, only to catch sight of the rawness at both corners and remember the vicious gag. His hand landed on Scott's non-dislocated shoulder instead.

"Scott, we need you. We all do, just like you need us. We're a team, a _family_." He was leaning over Scott, holding up most of his weight with the hand pressed to Scott's shoulder. His brother didn't make a single noise of complaint. "We've already lost Mom, and Dad. Don't-" It was his turn to stutter, seeking out the wide blue eyes of his brother and holding them with his own. "Don't _ever_ tell me to stand aside and let someone shoot you again."

"Virgil…" Scott's voice was soft, shocked and more than a little disbelieving. Virgil squeezed the muscle under his hand.

"Promise, Scott," he insisted. He was shaking, his arm could hardly hold him up and the other one was still immobile in a sling. He couldn't move it if he tried. "Promise you'll never say that again."

"But-"

" _Promise_."

Scott met his gaze and Virgil watched the emotions flash through them. Guilt, pain, grief.

"I promise."

Acceptance.

A hand found his own uninjured shoulder, gripping it tightly. "But that goes both ways, Virgil. Don't ever expect me to stand back and let anyone hurt _you_."

Virgil choked out something that could have been a laugh. "You've never done that in my life. Not even when I was in first grade and that kid pushed me into a puddle."

There was something that vaguely resembled the start of a smile on Scott's lips.

"Exactly. I've been looking out for you your whole life. All of you. That's not changing. Not now, not ever." Definitely a smile.

Silence hung between them, but this time it was a natural one. A pause at the end of a conversation, where everything that needed to be said at that moment had been, and some sort of resolution had been reached.

"Well," Virgil said, trying for a more light-hearted tone now that the guilt had mostly ebbed away from Scott's eyes. "I should probably get back to my own bed." He tried to push himself up, off of Scott, but his arm buckled and he found himself instead landing bodily on Scott's chest.

An arm wrapped around him, pinning him in place. Virgil could feel the rough texture of bandages around his brother's wrist, a reminder of what he'd been through.

"You'd never make it," Scott said, matter-of-factly. Virgil bristled but Scott didn't relent, even going as far as closing his eyes. "I just told you I'll always be looking out for you. That includes not letting you walk when you're recovering from a bullet in the hip."

He was right, as annoying as that was. Getting over to Scott's bed had taken all of his strength. Returning was beyond him.

"When I get in trouble, I'm telling them I was stopping you from being an idiot," he grumbled, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.

Scott laughed, a sound that should have felt out of place after their previous conversation but somehow soothed Virgil instead.

"You do that, little brother."

Virgil let out a growl at the form of address, usually reserved for the actual youngest members of the family, but Scott was warm and safe, and after the mess that day had ended up being Virgil was tired. Sleep came quickly.

**Author's Note:**

> Tsari found Bad Things Happen Bingo and immediately got herself a card to use on Scott. To turn it into an actual game, I'm asking people to pick one of the prompts and a not-Scott Thunderbirds character to write him with and writing based on what I get! [You can see my card on my fanfiction tumblr](https://tsarisfanfiction.tumblr.com/badthingshappenbingo) alongside prompts I've already received if you want to join in the fun (contacting me via tumblr or comment is both fine)! Most of the prompts have had one character requested already, but I'm always up for another (and sometimes it's adding a second character that gives me the spark)!
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Tsari


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